Franchise
Any Australian citizen aged 18 and over, or British subject who was on the Commonwealth Roll as at 25 January 1984, is qualified to enrol and vote at Commonwealth elections. Residence in an electorate for a period of one month before enrolment is necessary to enable a qualified person to enrol. Enrolment and attendance at a polling place on polling day (except under certain lawful exceptions) are compulsory for all eligible persons.
Parliamentary terms
Members of the House of Representatives are elected for a maximum term of three years, though elections may be called earlier. Senators have fixed terms of six years. Normally half the Senate retires every three years, and elections for the Senate are usually held at the same time as elections for the House of Representatives, though they need not be.
At times of disagreement between the House of Representatives and the Senate, both houses may be dissolved and an election called for both houses. Six of the forty Commonwealth elections have been double dissolution elections.
Table 2.4 shows the number and terms of all parliaments since Federation.

2.4 COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTS

Number of Parliament

Date of opening

Date of dissolution

1

9 May 1901

23 November 1903

2

2 March 1904

5 November 1906

3

20 February 1907

19 February 1910

4

1 July 1910

23 April 1913

5

9 July 1913

30 July 1914(a)

6

8 October 1914

26 March 1917

7

14 June 1917

3 November 1919

8

26 February 1920

6 November 1922

9

28 February 1923

3 October 1925

10

13 January 1926

9 October 1928

11

6 February 1929

16 September 1929

12

20 November 1929

27 November 1931

13

17 February 1932

7 August 1934

14

23 October 1934

21 September 1937

15

30 November 1937

27 August 1940

16

20 November 1940

7 July 1943

17

23 September 1943

16 August 1946

18

6 November 1946

1 October 1949

19

22 February 1950

19 March 1951(a)

20

12 June 1951

21 April 1954

21

4 August 1954

4 November 1955

22

15 February 1956

14 October 1958

23

17 February 1959

2 November 1961

24

20 February 1962

1 November 1963

25

25 February 1964

31 October 1966

26

21 February 1967

29 September 1969

27

25 November 1969

2 November 1972

28

27 February 1973

11 April 1974(a)

29

9 July 1974

11 November 1975(a)

30

17 February 1976

8 November 1977

31

21 February 1978

19 September 1980

32

25 November 1980

4 February 1983(a)

33

21 April 1983

26 October 1984

34

21 February 1985

5 June 1987(a)

35

14 September 1987

19 February 1990

36

8 May 1990

8 February 1993

37

4 May 1993

29 January 1996

38

30 April 1996

31 August 1998

39

10 November 1998

8 October 2001

40

12 February 2002

. .

(a) A dissolution of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Source: Department of the Parliamentary Library.

Electorates
For the purpose of House of Representatives elections each state or territory is divided into single-member electorates corresponding in number to the number of members to which the state or territory is entitled. In Senate elections the whole state or territory constitutes a single electorate.
Redistributions of House of Representatives electorates must be held in each state and territory at least every seven years, though a change in the population of a state or territory may see them held more frequently. A redistribution must take into account current and projected enrolments, community of economic, social and regional interests, means of communication and travel, physical features and area, and existing electorate boundaries. Within each state and territory the electorates must, as far as possible, be equal in numbers of electors. There is usually a variation in size of electorates from one state or territory to another.
The Electoral Commissioner determines the representation entitlements of the states and territories during the 13th month after the first meeting of a new House of Representatives. Determinations are based on the latest population statistics as provided by the Australian Statistician. The representation entitlements of the states and territories following the 2003 determination are shown in table 2.5, which also shows the total size of the House of Representatives at the time of the next election. Tasmania has a constitutional entitlement to five members of the House of Representatives based on it being a state at the time of Federation in 1901. The Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory have gained representation since 1901, and current legislation provides a minimum representation of one member of the House of Representatives for each.
For the next election, which must be held by 16 April 2005, Queensland will gain an extra member, while South Australia and the Northern Territory will each lose a member. The House of Representatives will therefore number 149 members.

2.5 REPRESENTATION ENTITLEMENTS, 2003 Determination

State/territory

Seats

Change from 1999

New South Wales

50

Victoria

37

Queensland

28

+1

Western Australia

15

South Australia

11

-1

Tasmania

5

Australian Capital Territory

2

Northern Territory

1

-1

Total

149

-1

Source: Department of the Parliamentary Library.

2001 election
The House of Representatives was dissolved on 8 October 2001 and an election called for 10 November 2001, for the House of Representatives and half the Senate. At that election the Liberal-National Party coalition was returned to office.
The number of electors enrolled for the 2001 election is shown in table 2.6.
The state of the parties in the Commonwealth Parliament at November 2002 is shown in table 2.7.
First preference votes cast for the major political parties in each state and territory at the 2001 election for each house of the Commonwealth Parliament are shown in tables 2.8 and 2.9.